


Can I Fall?

by queerbatnana



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Fashion & Models, Drama, Haikyuu!! Rare Pair Exchange 2017, Humor, Kissing, Light Angst, Minor Nishinoya Yuu/ Yaku Morisuke, Minor Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-09-30 23:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10175666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queerbatnana/pseuds/queerbatnana
Summary: The first thing Oikawa felt when he rounded the corner were grabby hands pulling him closer by the collar of his shirt and then shoving him up against a wall. Oikawa gasped as the wind was knocked out of him and his back was met with the pale walls of the studio.Immediately, a mouth descended upon his and started to aggressively nip at his lips.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SoVeryAverageMe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoVeryAverageMe/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so in my defense, my person wanted asexual characters and I got too excited and now this fic is going to be like crazy long haha. On the bright side, asexual characters (and puns :3c)!! 
> 
> So yeah, Rarepair Exchange 2017! And y'all should hold on cause this is gonna be long haha.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, Zoe!

The first thing Oikawa felt when he rounded the corner were grabby hands pulling him closer by the collar of his shirt and then shoving him up against a wall. Oikawa gasped as the wind was knocked out of him and his back was met with the pale walls of the studio. 

 

Immediately, a mouth descended upon his and started to aggressively nip at his lips.

 

“Suga…” Oikawa gasped, trying to address the man pressing against him but failing to do so. 

 

Sugawara hummed and welcomed Oikawa’s hands tugging at his hair, his own coursing along Oikawa’s sides. Satisfied with his work, he left Oikawa’s swollen lips behind and began his way down Oikawa’s jaw and towards his neck. 

 

“Eep!” a tiny noise erupted from behind Sugawara. 

 

Oikawa didn’t seem to have noticed, his eyes still fluttering shut and neck bared to Sugawara, but Sugawara heard the noise loud and clear. He smirked against Oikawa’s skin before detaching himself, turning around calmly to meet Kuroo’s wide eyes. 

 

Oikawa didn’t notice Kuroo’s presence, but he definitely noticed the lack of Sugawara’s presence as he whined low in his throat and pawed at Sugawara’s back. 

 

Sugawara gave Kuroo a Cheshire grin before he stuck out his tongue, waggled it from side to side, then pressed a finger against his own lips. “Shhh…” he mouthed before he turned back to Oikawa to give his full attention. 

 

Oikawa groaned lightly when Sugawara latched back onto his collarbone. _That_ shook Kuroo out of his frozen state and Sugawara couldn’t help but stifle a giggle as Kuroo ran back around the corner whining, “Suugaaaa…” the sound stretching until it was just a faint echo. 

 

Unfortunately, that drew Oikawa out of his dazed mind and he frowned slightly. “Was that Kuroo? Suga, what did you do?” 

 

Sugawara laughed out loud now, having been caught. “Oh, nothing much,” he said, waving a hand, “Just some suggestive motions and tongue waggling.”

 

Oikawa groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Noooo…” he moaned, “my reputation…”

 

“Oh, don’t worry,” Sugawara said with a laugh, “it won’t be _your_ reputation that’s being ruined.”

 

Oikawa narrowed his eyes at him through his fingers. “What is that supposed to mean?” he said indignantly. 

 

“Nothing! Nothing!” Sugawara said brightly. “Ennoshita’s intern wouldn’t tell on us. He knows better than to tattle on two of the _hottest_ models in the agency.” 

 

At this, Oikawa let out a laugh, finally putting down his hands. “You sound like me!”

 

Sugawara grinned, glad to have pulled Oikawa out of his melodrama. “Ha ha. Now let’s go get me some coffee. I am exhausted.”

 

“Okay,” Oikawa chirped as he adjusted his collar then reached to interlace his and Sugawara’s fingers together. “But if I hear gossip about us kissing, I’m putting the blame on you.”

 

Sugawara laughed too. “Yeah, yeah.”

 

*******

 

Iwaizumi was having one of those days. 

 

The kind of day where there were too many customers in the shop, the owner was out on her lunch break and it looked like as if Yaku was five seconds away from burning down the counter just to clear everyone out. Iwaizumi couldn’t really blame him; he had the same urge too. 

 

“Where the hell is Kiyoko?” Yaku snarled. “I swear if another person walks through that door, I’m leaving,” he said as he violently wiped down the counter. 

 

Iwaizumi nodded in agreement. The shop was too small to hold this many people and on top of that—

 

“Wait!” Yaku exclaimed, cutting through Iwaizumi’s thoughts. “They’re not even ordering! They’re just staring at their phones!”

 

“What the hell,” Iwaizumi said, having reached the same conclusion.

 

Just as Iwaizumi was about to suggest kicking them all out, the front door opened and the chimes lightly pealed.

 

“That’s it—!”

 

“Where do you think you’re going?” A voice cut through Yaku’s outburst.

 

There was something frightening about the way Kiyoko stared down at them as they stood frozen in spot. Yaku’s towel that he was about to thrown down hung loosely between his fingers and he tried not to gulp. 

 

Kiyoko eyed them for two more seconds before breaking eye contact and sighed, scanning over the overcrowded shop. Iwaizumi and Yaku let out a breath of relief as if her vice-like gaze released them. 

 

“There’s a lot of people in the shop because of this.” She held up her phone, opened to the Twitter app. 

 

Iwaizumi took it and read the tweet out loud. “Going to Hitoka Café with Suga, uh, left parentheses, asterisk, caret? Omega—”

 

“Iwaizumi, _what?_ Let me read that!” Yaku exclaimed as he grabbed the phone out of Iwaizumi’s hands. “Oh my— Iwaizumi, that’s an emoticon. Wait, they’re coming here? No wonder there are so many people in the shop.”

 

He obediently handed the phone back to Kiyoko. 

 

“What are we going to do?” he asked Kiyoko. “Are we allowed to kick them out? Can we _please_ kick them out?”

 

“No,” Kiyoko said as she adjusted her glasses and there was a glint in her eyes that Iwaizumi didn’t like. “It’s time to bring out our secret weapon.”

 

“Secret weapon?” Iwaizumi questioned. He didn’t even know this simple café had a secret weapon. He thought that it was just like any other average café with its quiet quirks and cozy atmosphere. Although, he should’ve known that any café under Kiyoko’s ownership would never be average. 

 

“No…” Yaku paled, having caught on faster than Iwaizumi did. “Please Kiyoko, not him.”

 

_Him?_ Iwaizumi wondered. They didn’t have anybody else in the store, just…

 

“Wait—” Iwaizumi started to say but before he could, the employee back door slammed open and both Iwaizumi and Yaku jumped. 

 

“It’s me!” Lev shouted. “I’m the secret weapon!”

 

Kiyoko raised an eyebrow at him, staring into his soul with her dark eyes. “Were you listening behind the doors, again?”

 

“Um, yes, no, maybe so?” Lev answered nervously, shifting from one foot to another, his glowing confidence diminishing under Kiyoko’s scrutinized gaze.

 

Kiyoko stared at him more for a good couple of seconds, maybe just to see if he would break and confess anything else, but Lev kept quiet, avoiding eye contact.

 

Kiyoko nodded, at last, giving her approval. “Alright, Lev, do what you must.”

 

*******

 

When Iwaizumi heard Kiyoko utter the words “secret weapon” and Lev had jumped out as the “secret weapon”, he thought that that would be that and they could all go back to work (which honestly was nothing because nobody was ordering) and Lev would do his “magic” away from them and anybody else.

 

But no, here he was, employee apron tossed aside and dressed in a black tight muscle tee instead of his usual comfortable cotton t-shirt. At least he wasn’t alone in an embarrassing outfit. Although he thought it was unfair when Yaku only had to put on a flower crown as his “outfit”. 

 

And Lev… Lev was left to prance around the shop, speaking to all the fans with his cheerful grin, his small bouquet of pink flowers in one hand and a mobile menu in the other.

 

Iwaizumi would say “serves him right” but it actually seemed like Lev was enjoying himself.

 

“Would you lovely ladies like something to refresh yourselves? It must be so tiring to wait here. Why don’t you go get something to drink?” Lev was saying to a small group of girls, brandishing his flowers to them and pointing the menu towards the counter. 

 

Unbelievably, they all blushed and one or two nodded, dragging the rest of their friends towards the counter to buy something. 

 

Iwaizumi gave them what he hoped was his best dazzling smile and wrote down each of their orders on cups, passing them on to Yaku, who was having trouble with making his flower crown stay on his head. He laughed when Yaku finally gave up, throwing the damn thing onto the counter. 

 

He regretted laughing later on when Yaku punched him in the arm as he walked by minutes later, wincing at the force from Yaku’s fist. 

 

“Stupid Lev, stupid Iwaizumi for charming the ladies and making me do all the work,” he heard Yaku mutter under his breath.

 

“Hey!” Iwaizumi cried indignantly. “I’m only doing my job.”

 

Yaku gave him the stink eye anyway.

 

“Yahoo!” a cheerful cry suddenly came from the opened front door and if Iwaizumi thought that earlier was chaos, he was wrong. He was _very_ wrong.

 

*******

 

The second Sugawara followed Oikawa into the small quaint café, he knew that everything was Oikawa’s fault.

 

There were fans _everywhere_.

 

“Oikawa!” he hissed, tugging back at Oikawa’s jacket. “What the hell!”

 

Predictably, Oikawa ignored him and waved at their adoring fans. “Yahoo!” he called in greeting and there was a good solid second of the silence of awed fans before chaos erupted.

 

Suddenly, everybody was swarming to get to them and Sugawara struggled to breathe, smashed against Oikawa’s back as Oikawa was forced to back up. 

 

“Ah, sorry Suga-chan!” Oikawa apologized as he accidentally stepped on Sugawara’s toes. 

 

“Oikawa-san! Oikawa-san!” the crowd cheered and Sugawara stepped quickly to the side to avoid getting smacked again. 

 

At least Oikawa seemed to be having fun, his unwavering smile brightly greeting each new fan, signing their bags, pencil cases, and whatever merchandise they had bought with his face on it. 

 

Everybody jostled past Sugawara and he winced as he was elbowed thrice- which was thrice too many in his opinion. He tried to catch eye contact with Oikawa, jumping up onto his tip toes. Luckily, Oikawa looked up at the right time and nodded to show they he understood.

 

“Thanks,” Sugawara mouthed as he slipped past the people and finally into his favourite café.

 

Hitoka Café was (in his very biased opinion) the absolute best place to have coffee. It had a great atmosphere (he might’ve loved the fairy lights a little too much), good quality coffee, and the always lingering scent of nutmeg and hot chocolate. Oh, and the staff. The staff was always great, can’t forget about them. 

 

Not to mention the fact that he and the owner go way back, allowing him for divine taste tests and other sweet perks.

 

Sugawara laughed inwardly at his pun, remembering the delicious caramel fudge chocolate square he was treated to one time, personally made by Kiyoko's wife, Yachi Hitoka. 

 

"Hey, Shimizu!" he called to Kiyoko, as she was just coming out of the back. "How's it going?"

 

Kiyoko glared at him coldly and Sugawara laughed, albeit nervously as her eyes behind her glasses followed his every step. Something told Sugawara that he should tip a bit more on his coffee today.

 

"Hey, Yaku!" he also greeted to barista hurriedly trying to make drinks as fast as possible. 

 

"Suga..." Yaku growled, giving him an impressive glower, already knowing that it was all Sugawara's fault for disrupting the peace by bringing two and a half (Oikawa was too famous to be considered as just 1) famous models into the usually quiet café. 

 

Sugawara just gave him his "I know what I did wrong but I'm not going to apologize for anything" tinkling laugh, dismissing Yaku's complaints with waves of his hand. "Oh, you're so funny. Besides, you and I both know that this is good for business."

 

Unable to deny the truth, Yaku only made a face at him. "Your usual with three caramel shots and milk, right?" he asked, already reaching for a new cup.

 

Sugawara waved him off. "Oh, no no no, I can't do something like that. Don't worry, I'll just wait in line like everyone else."

 

Yaku raised an eyebrow at him but dropped it a second later when he realized what Sugawara was doing at the sounds of other customers already in line sighing in relief.

 

"Tricky models," Sugawara heard Yaku mutter under his breath as he returned back to his work.

 

Sugawara smiled warmly at the eyes staring at their interaction and stepped into line like everyone else. 

 

A few smiled at his chivalry before returning to face the front and Sugawara smirked inwardly. _Score._

 

Sugawara Koushi may have been nicknamed "Angel Face" in his line of work, but only a few selected friends knew about his true cunningness. A model whose career was based on how popular he was couldn’t pass up any chance to become more likeable after all. 

 

There were certain people in the industry that could easily snatch his job away from him if he wasn’t careful and if Sugawara had to convince people into liking him, he had no problems with that.

 

*******

 

Oikawa was starting to get tired.

 

Don’t get him wrong, he loved his fans with all his whole heart and soul, but sometimes (such as now) it was tiring and time-consuming. 

 

Also, he was seriously caffeine-deprived and if he didn’t get his coffee ASAP, well, _that_ would not be pretty.

 

After he finally answered all their questions, gave all the autographs he could without losing his hand, and taking as many pictures as he possibly could until his eye was twitching, Oikawa waved them good-bye cheerfully, making sure to add a touch of regret to his face so that he didn’t seem _too_ cheerful. 

 

They all waved back, reluctant to see him go and the crowd quickly dispersed after that. Oikawa was _so_ glad that his fans could at least respect his time and privacy unlike some of the other models’.

 

Bursting through the café door, he quickly made a beeline through the mostly empty café to Sugawara who was standing a bit off to the side near the counter, back turned towards him.

 

“Thank goodness!” he cried when he got closer. “Please tell me that you also ordered mine.”

 

Sugawara turned around, an evil grin stuck on his face. He stuck a tongue out at him. “Nah.”

 

“Suga!”

 

Sugawara held up a peace sign, mocking Oikawa’s favourite pose right back at him. The _audacity._

 

Oikawa was about to scream more, shake Sugawara by the collars of his sweater, maybe cry, when a clear voice called out, “For Sugawara!”

 

Oikawa gave Sugawara a betrayed look as he left to grab his order. When he came back, he was holding two cups, one smelling like sticky caramel and other—

 

Oikawa gave a delighted gasp, placing his hand over his mouth. “Oh, Suga! Thank you! I love you so much right now!”

 

Sugawara raised an eyebrow at him. Oikawa didn’t have to be a psychic to know that his gesture meant “Weren’t you just going murder me?”

 

“It’s all good,” Oikawa explained, “now that you actually have my coffee, I forgive you.”

 

But Sugawara didn’t hand him the coffee with two shots of expresso and a mountain of whip cream. Instead, he pressed the mouth of the cup against his lips and took a long sip. Oikawa was pretty sure that Sugawara was only acting and not actually drinking that much. Well, he hoped. 

 

“Suga!” he complained as Sugawara’s “sip” became more of a slurp and then more slurping sounds.

 

Sugawara laughed at Oikawa’s expression, spewing a bit of the liquid out (Oikawa was _so_ cringing right now), finally pulling the cup away from him and handing it to Oikawa, wiping at his chin with a napkin he had plucked from the dispenser. Oikawa glared and contemplated wiping the opening with his new cloudy grey sweater. 

 

Deciding to save his image instead of his dignity, he took a big gulp of his coffee, gagging and coughing as the liquid burned down his throat. A flash distracted him from his unexpected exposure to hell and he looked up to find Sugawara filming his entire embarrassing self with glee.

 

“You, Sugawara Koushi,” Oikawa spoke to the camera, eyes narrowed for effect, “are a menace.”

 

Sugawara’s smile grew wider at Oikawa’s line before he stopped the recording and let out his obnoxious laugh. 

 

“Oh man,” he chortled, “I’m sending that to everybody. Yaku, Kiyoko, Terushima, Bokuto, Kuroo, Daichi—”

 

“Hey!” Oikawa complained, “You can’t send that to Daichi! He finally thinks I’m cool and I can’t ruin that!”

 

“Too late.” Sugawara smiled as he tapped on more contacts on Snapchat. “Besides, he has never thought that you were cool. Ooohhh~ I’m gonna post this on my story as well.”

 

“Rude!”

 

Both men knew that it wouldn’t be much of a problem anyway. Sugawara would never let a video that would damage Oikawa’s reputation go online and Oikawa knew that. 

 

Finally finished, Sugawara put his phone away and dragged Oikawa over to a table. “C’mon, we’re blocking the way, anyways.”

 

Oikawa let himself be pulled along, pouting when he was practically shoved into the booth, Sugawara flopping down next to him, hip-checking him before settling down. 

 

Oikawa winced and rubbed his hip bone, scooting over, but before he could, Sugawara wrapped a strong arm around his neck and leant their heads towards each other as if they were about to share a secret. There was a calculating glint in Sugawara’s eyes that Oikawa didn’t like as Sugawara scanned the café, looking for something… someone. 

 

“Her?” Sugawara pointed a girl out. 

 

She was sipping on the straw of her drink, laughing with her huddle of friends, long hair swishing in the pale sunlight. 

 

Oikawa was ready to smack himself— no, wait, smack Sugawara. He couldn’t believe that Sugawara was just here to check people out. Although he had to admit, Sugawara had good taste, but…

 

“Meh,” Oikawa tried to shrug under the weight of Sugawara’s arm, “not really my type.”

 

“Oh ho ho ho.” Sugawara smirked at Oikawa. (Oikawa was seriously going to have a talk with Kuroo about spreading his questionable phrases around.) “Does the great _Oikawa-san_ have a type? Please, indulge me.”

 

Oikawa sighed and batted Sugawara’s leering face away. “Yes, Suga, I have a type. They’d be like…”

 

Oikawa waved his hand around, trying to pick someone out of the diminishing crowd, but really, there was no—

 

“Him!” Oikawa exclaimed a little too loudly, pointing his long finger at the cute barista currently making drinks. 

 

The barista looked up at the shout, whipping his head around until he spotted Oikawa pointing at him. He gave a confused look and mouthed, “Me?”

 

Oikawa quickly dropped his arm and avoided eye contact with the barista, turning towards Sugawara slowly with a burning horrified expression. 

 

But Sugawara, the traitor, just laughed and called at the barista, ignoring Oikawa’s desperate plea of “Save me!”.

 

“Yeah! You!” he said, all mischievous grin and twinkling eyes. Then, he dragged Oikawa out of the booth and pulled him towards the counter. 

 

Oikawa needed to reestablish Sugawara as number two menace on his list, right after Ushijima. 

 

*******

 

Iwaizumi was starting to admit that Yaku was a blessing. Yes, he was actually becoming like Lev and admitting that Yaku was a spiritual being that had extreme kindness in his heart and just happened to be a toughie on the outside. 

 

Just kidding.

 

Yaku was the devil, front to back and one day, Iwaizumi was going to beg Kiyoko to let Nishinoya back into the café all day so that he could keep Yaku busy and out of his business. 

 

But alas, it was the present and Nishinoya would probably be forever banned to visit the shop in the morning and evening after a certain incident that involved three shots of expresso, Lev’s naiveness (although Iwaizumi couldn’t really blame him, it _was_ his first time meeting Nishinoya), singing, chocolate sauce, and dancing on tables. It was also fair to say that chocolate sauce was forbidden from leaving the counters and would no longer be freely used by the public. 

 

The moment Iwaizumi heard someone yell “Him!” and then proceeded to turn around to find himself as the object of the attention, Iwaizumi was pretty sure that his day was going to get exciting. Whether it was the good kind of exciting or bad kind of exciting, that kind of was left to him. 

 

“Me?” he asked as he pointed at himself, confused as to why an arguably attractive man was singling him out. 

 

The man quickly lowered his arm and turned towards his friend, face burning with embarrassment. Much to the horror of the guy, his friend had jumped up with glee and dragged him to the counters where Iwaizumi was currently standing.

 

“Hey, Iwaizumi!” the one pulling his friend along called.

 

Somewhere at the back of his mind, Iwaizumi remembered that he was a friend of Yaku’s, but as hard as he wracked his brain, he couldn’t remember what his name was or how he and Yaku were connected. 

 

“Um, hello…”

 

Sugawara chuckled, not offended. “Sugawara Koushi.”

 

“… Sugawara-san.”

 

Sugawara laughed again, waving off the honorific. “Oh no, no need to be so formal. I’m just a friend of Yaku’s, that’s all.”

 

“Alright, Sugawara-kun,” Iwaizumi retaliated. 

 

Sugawara beamed at him and Iwaizumi fidgeted under his gaze, his fingers rubbing his cloth more forcefully into the ceramic cup he was drying. There was something intense about Sugawara’s gaze that made Iwaizumi feel like he was put under a spotlight and then proceeded to be examined by hundreds of eyes.

 

As if just realizing why he was here and calling for Iwaizumi’s attention, Sugawara stopped staring and dragged his friend who was hiding behind him, pushing him towards the counter and facing Iwaizumi.

 

“Anyways,” Sugawara chirped. “My friend here wants to meet you.” Sugawara leant forward onto the counter as if telling a secret and Iwaizumi couldn’t help but lean in too. “He thinks you’re cute,” Sugawara whispered not-so-quietly. 

 

“Suga!” his friend smacked at his arm. 

 

“Oh!” Iwaizumi exclaimed, laughing nervously as he hoped that his blush wasn’t too obvious. “Um, thanks?”

 

“No problem,” Sugawara drawled, leaning closer to Iwaizumi. His eyes roved over Iwaizumi’s bare arms and Iwaizumi flushed a deeper colour. “We’ll see you soon.” Then he winked and pulled his flustered friend along and out of the café.

 

Iwaizumi was blaming his blush on Yaku and his connection to attractive strangers.

 

*******

 

“I just had the weirdest day ever,” Iwaizumi declared as soon as he set foot in his and his roommate's apartment. 

 

There was a sound of a chair swivelling and rolling across the hardwood floor before a head popped out of one of the bedroom’s doorway. 

 

“Weird?” Iwaizumi’s roommate asked, a few strands of his gelled hair falling around his face, losing its effect after a long day. 

 

Iwaizumi nodded. “Yup, weird.” He opened the fridge, popping his head in and rummaging through its contents.

 

Iwaizumi’s roommate watched him root around, before pointing out that he had gone grocery shopping and that the cupboard had been stocked up with snacks again. 

 

“Thanks, Bokuto,” Iwaizumi said, pulling his head out from a fruitless search and shutting the fridge. He picked up a few granola bars, heading toward’s Bokuto’s room.

 

Seeing Iwaizumi come his way, Bokuto pushed himself off the wall and began his squeaky path back to his desk. 

 

“So, weird, huh?” Bokuto asked once he had made himself comfortably perched on his chair and Iwaizumi was shuffling around on his bed. 

 

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi grunted as he tried to pull the blankets from under him. “Definitely weird.”

 

“So? What happened?” Bokuto asked, eager for a story.

 

“Hold on, oh sh—”

 

“Language!” Bokuto yelled.

 

“—oot! My bar!”

 

“My floor!” Bokuto yelled back. He gingerly picked up the slightly dented, half unwrapped granola bar and made a face at the sight of his now-sticky-in-one-spot floor.

 

“Ah, dang. Sorry, man. If it makes you feel any better, I suffered too because I have one less to eat.”

 

Bokuto pouted. “No, it doesn’t. But you can make it up to me by finally telling me your crazy day.”

 

“Alright, alright. So there first, there were these two guys—”

 

“Oh ho ho ho ho?” Bokuto waggled his eyebrows and Iwaizumi blushed at the suggestiveness of his tone, shoving his face away.

 

“Oh, shut up. You and I both know I’m ace.”

 

Bokuto laughed. “Ace ace.”

 

Normally, Iwaizumi would groan at Bokuto’s puns, but he had to admit that that one _was_ pretty good.

 

He snickered as well. “Ace ace.”

 

“Ace ace.”

 

“Ace ace.”

 

“Ace ace.”

 

“Ahem, as I was saying—”

 

“Ace ace.”

 

“Bokuto, do you want to hear the story or not?”

 

“Okay, okay, fine. Last one… Ace ace.”

 

Iwaizumi sighed but continued with his story, nevertheless. “There were these two guys and one of them told me that the other guy said I was cute? And winked at me? Yeah, that was weird.”

 

Bokuto peered down at him, eyes curious. “Wait, what? You’re right, that _is_ weird. Why would he wink at you? Isn’t it his friend that’s interested?”

 

Iwaizumi buried his head in his hands with a groan. “Yeah, I don’t get it either.”

 

Suddenly, Bokuto gave a sharp gasp. “Oh my goodness. You don’t think— what if he’s sexually attracted to you?”

 

Iwaizumi gave him a look of horror. “What? No way! Why would he?”

 

At this, Bokuto gave a shrug. “Dunno, but it’s that thing that allosexuals do, right?”

 

Iwaizumi frowned. “Is that good?”

 

Bokuto shrugged again. “I dunno. Depends on if you like it or not, I guess.”

 

Iwaizumi sighed again. He didn’t know either.

 

*******

 

“Alright, raise that hand higher, Oikawa-san!” Akaashi called and Oikawa obediently did so, his long fingers curling up into his hair at a higher angle. 

 

Akaashi nodded. “Okay, now— Oh, hello Sawamura-san.”

 

Oikawa tried not to huff as Akaashi completely abandoned his post to take Oikawa’s photo, leaving him to stay as still as possible while he talked to Sawamura.

 

_Akaashi is really not going to stop anytime soon, is he?_ Oikawa mused to himself as he watched Kuroo briskly walk around the set for the fifth time. _Ennoshita is not an easy mentor either_ , he noticed. 

 

Oikawa was starting to fidget, the strain of boredom eating away at his young and fresh soul. And just his luck, his nose was itchy too. 

 

Oikawa watched Akaashi closely, hoping that he was really as interested in whatever he and Sawamura were talking about and that he wouldn’t notice if Oikawa quickly scratched his nose or something equally scandalous as that.

 

With the pressure of an uncontrollable itch, he quickly moved his hand and rubbed at his nose. 

 

“Oikawa!” Akaashi yelled, exasperated to the point where he forgot to address honourifics.

 

“Sorry!” Oikawa called back. “But my nose was really really itchy!”

 

Akaashi sighed, given up from the four hours already spent on the shoot, several models’ insistence of stopping, and now Oikawa’s uncontrollable itch. 

 

“Alright, alright!” He clapped his hands and called to the crew. “We’re done, we have enough photos anyways. Pack it up!”

 

Everyone cheered, Oikawa including, and he quickly hustled towards the wardrobe area, ready to take off the stiff suit jacket and crisp dress shirt he was modelling for and change into his infinitely more comfortable (but fashionable) casual dress shirt. 

 

Yukie helped him pull off the pins, slapping his hands away whenever he got too hasty. 

 

“Can’t ruin these artworks,” she reprimanded him.

 

“Hurry…” he whined.

 

Yukie bonked him in the head with her pencil, effectively shutting him up.

 

“Just a few more minutes,” she chided, pulling three more off at once.

 

When he was finally free of pins, Oikawa quickly ran behind the changing curtain, shucking off the garments quickly but carefully.  He pulled on his clothes, making sure to roll up the sleeves of his v-necked sweater and that his skinny jeans were skinny enough.

 

He hoped that the barista would find them attractive and that Sugawara wouldn’t laugh at him too much. It was time to work his magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah yes, Oikawa is ready (no he isn't) to seduce an asexual character, this gonna be good


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before Oikawa left the studio, he snagged Shirabu who just emerging from the makeup rooms. 
> 
> “Shirabu-chan!” he exclaimed and Shirabu raised an eyebrow. Oikawa hardly addressed him and ever since Shirabu had discovered that Ushijima with smokey eyelids would increase his popularity even more, Oikawa had been annoyed at Ushijima’s advantage and had refused to let Shirabu do his makeup. 
> 
> “Yes?” he asked suspiciously.
> 
> Oikawa took a deep breath, this was now or never. 
> 
> “I need your makeup skills.”
> 
> “Excuse me? I thought you didn’t want me to touch your face.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys guess who's back!!! (yep it's me)

Before Oikawa left the studio, he snagged Shirabu who just emerging from the makeup rooms. 

 

“Shirabu-chan!” he exclaimed and Shirabu raised an eyebrow. Oikawa hardly addressed him and ever since Shirabu had discovered that Ushijima with smokey eyelids would increase his popularity even more, Oikawa had been annoyed at Ushijima’s advantage and had refused to let Shirabu do his makeup. 

 

“Yes?” he asked suspiciously.

 

Oikawa took a deep breath, this was now or never. 

 

“I need your makeup skills.”

 

“Excuse me? I thought you didn’t want me to touch your face.”

 

Oikawa took another deep breath in hopes that it will give him the ability to overcome his pettiness.

 

“I need your makeup skills. I need your eyeliner skills that made Ushiwaka so hot.”

 

Shirabu was silent, not yet comprehending Oikawa’s request.

 

When it finally settled in his mind, he spoke. “What. The. Hell.”

 

5 minutes later, Oikawa was sitting happily on a stool, eyes closed and face gently maneuvered by Shirabu’s careful hands. Shirabu stood in front of him with a concentrated face, fingers guiding the eyeliner pen into delicate strokes. He had just lifted his pen when the door slammed open.

 

Oikawa jumped and reflexively tried to open his eyes but Shirabu gripped his jaw tighter and snapped, “Don’t open your eyes!” before damage could be done.

 

Shirabu glared at the newcomers as their jaws dropped at the scene in front of them.

 

“Well?” he snapped, annoyed that his work was interrupted. “Are you going to come in or not?”

 

Oikawa squirmed in his seat, uncomfortable with the thought of not knowing what was happening.

 

“Sit still,” Shirabu scolded, hand coming back up to Oikawa’s face as he decided that the newcomers were just going to stand there silently catching flies. 

 

His hand had just touched Oikawa’s skin before the newcomers got over their overdue shock.

 

“Tooru!” Hanamaki exclaimed, “I can’t believe this!”

 

“Yeah!” Matsukawa chimed in, “What the hell, man.”

 

Oikawa huffed and twisted around to face them- Shirabu made an affronted noise as he reacted too late and a shaky line erupted from Oikawa’s eye. 

 

“Well, unlike _some_ people,” Oikawa said as he narrowed his eyebrows at Matsukawa and Hanamaki, “Shirabu-chan would take my request seriously and not trick me into thinking that he shaved my head bald!”

 

“Hey!” Hanamaki butted in, “That was just one time and we knew that Suga would enjoy it.”

 

“He laughed at me!”

 

“You guys also got together on the same day. Same hour,” Matsukawa said for emphasis.

 

Unfortunately, Oikawa couldn’t argue with that. He harrumphed and crossed his arms, spinning to turn his back on them, but Shirabu was done with him and his drama. He grabbed Oikawa’s face roughly, ignoring Oikawa’s muffled yelp and wiped fiercely at the mistake he had made. 

 

“Stop. Moving,” he hissed. “Or I’m not helping you. And you two!” he yelled at his fellow makeup artists. “Either get out or sit down in the corner.”

 

Matsukawa and Hanamaki obeyed and sat on the loveseat in the makeup room, faces betraying a hint of shame and the feeling of being scolded because they were squabbling children.

 

They watched Shirabu’s careful hands create sweeping lines around Oikawa’s eyes, feeling slightly jealous at Shirabu’s obvious expertise. It wasn’t that important to them- their skills lied in other areas- but damn, could Shirabu use an eyeliner pen like nobody’s business. 

 

Finally, Shirabu was finished and he leaned back to check his work. 

 

“Yep,” he said. “I’m done, and I better not hear anything about you being mean to Ushijima-san again.”

 

Oikawa laughed and slid out of the seat. “Don’t worry,” he said with a wink, “Oikawa-san always keeps his promises~”

 

Shirabu groaned as Matsukawa and Hanamaki scoffed. They all knew that he wasn’t. 

 

*******

 

“Hajime-kun!” someone called when Iwaizumi first entered the coffee shop. 

 

Iwaizumi blinked, startled by someone using his name so casually and he made his way towards the back of the café cautiously, where a man was leaning against the wooden counter and grinning at him. 

 

“Can I help you?” Iwaizumi asked tentatively, recognizing that he was one of the men who had approached him the day before.

 

“Definitely,” the man purred in a way that made Iwaizumi blush. 

 

“Okay…? Um…”

 

“Koushi,” the man supplied. 

 

“Sugawara-san,” Iwaizumi said, ignoring Sugawara’s invitation and remembering his surname clearly now. “How can I help you? Do you want something to drink?”

 

Sugawara waved aside his suggestion with his hand. “Oh no, don’t worry. I’ve already got Yaku making one for me.”

 

“Okay?” Iwaizumi raised his eyebrow. “Then what can I do for you?”

 

“Oh, nothing,” Sugawara said in a way that clearly meant he wanted something from Iwaizumi. “Just maybe your number?”

 

Iwaizumi was about to answer with “why” or maybe a “what”, but he wasn’t sure because before he could answer, the door to the café flung open.

 

“IWA-CHAANN!”

 

The entire café swivelled their heads to see who was making such a commotion.

 

Oikawa blushed with embarrassment and he whispered a “sorry” before making a quick dash over to Iwaizumi and Sugawara. 

 

Sugawara snickered as Oikawa came closer, no doubt laughing at Oikawa’s expense and Oikawa pouted.

 

“Suga-chan!” he whined.

 

Amazingly, Sugawara did not fire back a witty insult and instead, dropped his jaws as he stared at Oikawa. 

 

“Are you… are you wearing eyeliner?” Sugawara gasped when he finally gets his voice back.

 

Oikawa smirked, delighted that his efforts did not go to waste. “Mhm,” he hummed in confirmation. “Do you like it? I got Shirabu-chan to do it for me today.”

 

If possible, Sugawara’s jaws fall even further. “You… you got Shirabu to do your makeup for you?!” he sputtered. “I’ve been trying to get him do mine for months!” 

 

“Tut tut!” Oikawa wagged a finger in Sugawara’s face, “He’s not going to do yours willy-nilly, I had to turn on Oikawa-san’s charm to get him to do mine.”

 

And just like that, the spell was broken. Sugawara roared with laughter at the thought of Oikawa even being able to _charm_ Shirabu as Oikawa stared at him unamused.

 

“It’s true!” Oikawa cried when Sugawara showed no signs of stopping. “It’s true!”

 

Iwaizumi shook his head as he made his way behind the counter so that he could at least start work before anything else happened. 

 

*******

 

Yaku was starting to get a headache. Yes, it was great that the shop was no longer as crowded and hectic as the day before, but the sound of Sugawara and his pretty model friend might as well be equivalent to the noise and headache the previous day had caused.

 

Those two had been yammering about makeup and something along the lines of “that’s not fair!” and Yaku was starting to curse Sugawara for having a craving for drinks that were extra sweet and complicated. 

 

“Alright, alright,” he butted in as he nudged Iwaizumi aside to hand over Sugawara’s drink. “Enough clogging up the counter, go sit in the far corner or something.”

 

Sugawara’s friend blinked as if he was surprised to find someone chastising him, but Sugawara completely ignored Yaku’s annoyed tone, taking his cup out of Yaku’s hands with a smirk that told Yaku that Sugawara had definitely heard him and was purposely ignoring him. 

 

_That little shit._ Yaku was about to repeat the cuss the words at him, but Iwaizumi cut him off.

 

To the surprise of the group, Iwaizumi chuckled and spoke in a teasing tone. “Do you even have charm, Oikawa?”

 

Oikawa looked like he was trying to not look too taken back by Iwaizumi’s sudden interest in him, but he quickly composed himself and spoke back in an equally lilting tone. 

 

“Oh? Is Iwa-chan admitting that he likes my charm? I’m _flattered_.”

 

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes at his words being twisted, but before he could rebuke the statement, Sugawara cut in.

 

“Of course not, Tooru,” Sugawara said to Oikawa, although his sharp eyes never left Iwaizumi’s, “He’s saying that he wished that you had charm.”

 

Oikawa’s overdramatic gasp was overtaken by Iwaizumi’s guffaw, but before either of them could _really_ enjoy Sugawara’s witty remark, Sugawara cut in with another devastating blow.

 

“But he’s also saying that he would love to be charmed by you.”

 

Both Oikawa and Iwaizumi exploded into a cacophony again, this time Oikawa squealing delightedly and Iwaizumi into a mantra of “Oh no”. 

 

Yaku felt as if he had just witnessed something that should not make sense but definitely did to the three of them. 

 

He rubbed his temples and sighed heavily, may the Gods take pity on him and end his life right now. The sinking feeling in his gut told him that things were only going to go downhill from here.

 

*******

 

Yaku was right 93% of the time, but he really wished that the other 7% would just come out of its hiding hole and smack him in the head.

 

Whatever _feeling_ Iwaizumi got from the two good-looking men was clearly something he was interested in; Yaku had seen far too many instances of Iwaizumi peeking at his phone when he thought no one could see and far too many of Iwaizumi’s suppressed smiles. 

 

It was horrifying.

 

True, Yaku had only been working with Iwaizumi for six months, but he felt that those six months had to at least account for something when it came to knowing Iwaizumi’s personality and feelings.

 

Never in a million years did Yaku think that Iwaizumi would be the _giddy_ type. 

 

“He’s a nightmare,” Yaku whispered to his boyfriend, Nishinoya, over the counter. 

 

Nishinoya raised an eyebrow. “Who?” he said a bit too loudly. 

 

Yaku resisted the urge to clamp a hand over Nishinoya’s mouth, but he feared that that would just make it look a little too suspicious.

 

“Shhh—” he hushed. “It’s Iwaizumi.”

 

Nishinoya Yuu didn’t often raise his eyebrows twice in a row because once was already enough and could easily be replaced with a loud “WHAT”, but he didn’t want to draw attention to his boyfriend who was trying very hard to not stand out. 

 

“I thought you love Iwaizumi!” he whisper-shouted. “You’re always going on about how Iwaizumi is your favourite person in the café besides quote unquote ‘Kiyoko-san is the best!’”

 

“Yes!” Yaku hissed, “I know, but that’s before I found out about-” he shuddered, “-him in _love_.”

 

Now, Nishinoya couldn’t hold it in. 

 

“WHAT!” he screeched as he jumped up and slammed his hands on the wooden counter.

 

“Nishinoya, don’t make me ban you from the café forever,” Kiyoko’s threatening voice floated from the behind the “Employees Only” door of the store.

 

Nishinoya paled and sat back down.

 

“Sorry,” he whispered, “but what!”

 

“I know!” Yaku whispered back fiercely. “Even worse, he’s the _giddy type_.”

 

Nishinoya was starting to look more and more flabbergast by the second. A loving Iwaizumi? Sure, he could believe that easily. Iwaizumi had shown more than a few times the tough love he possessed for his friends and family. But Iwaizumi being the _giddy type_? That just didn’t seem possible; it didn’t fit his image at all.

 

Nishinoya only had two words to say.

 

“Holy heck.”

 

*******

 

Iwaizumi tried to bite back a grin as his screen flashed with a new text from the group chat Sugawara had set up for the three of them (Oikawa actually wanted to be the one to create the group, but as always, Sugawara had beat him to it).

 

**(3:10) Pretty-san** : iwa-chan~~~ are you sure you dont like my charm (● ♡∀♡ )

 

**(3:11) Cutie-San** : oh wow

 

**(3:11) Cutie-San** : are we still going on about this

 

**(3:11) Cutie-San** : for real???

 

**(3:12) Bitter and Strong** : no

 

**(3:12) Bitter and Strong** : we are not going over thsi again

 

**(3:13) Bitter and Strong** : no way no hell

 

**(3:17) Pretty-san** : /gasp/

 

**(3:17) Pretty-san** : iwa cahn swore! how vulgar

 

**(3:20) Cutie-San** : *gasp*

 

**(3:20) Bitter and Strong** : seriously sugawara san youre going with this clown show too

 

**(3:20) Pretty-san** : clown show?!

 

**(3:20) Pretty-san** : CLOWN SHOW?!

 

**(3:22) Pretty-san** : C L O W NS H O W? !

 

**(3:23) Bitter and Strong** : is he going to start spewing again

 

**(3:24) Cutie-San** : judging by how fast and hard his thumbs are going

 

**(3:24) Cutie-San** : yes

 

**(3:24) Bitter and Strong** : i cant believe i just read ‘how fast and hard his thumbs are going’

 

**(3:34) Cutie-San:** waiting

 

**(3:34) Bitter and Strong:** waiting

 

**(3:34) Cutie-San:** waiting

 

**(3:34) Bitter and Strong:** waiting

 

**(3:34) Cutie-San:** waiting

 

**(3:34) Bitter and Strong:** waiting

 

**(3:35) Cutie-San:** waiting

 

**(3:35) Bitter and Strong:** waiting

 

**(3:35) Cutie-San:** waiting

 

**(3:35) Bitter and Strong:** waiting

 

**(3:35) Cutie-San:** waiting

 

**(3:35) Cutie-San:** waiting

 

**(3:35) Cutie-San:** waiting

 

**(3:36) Bitter and Strong** : waiting

 

**(3:36) Cutie-San** : waiting

 

**(3:37) Bitter and Strong** : waiting

 

**(3:37) Cutie-San** : waiting

 

**(3:40) Pretty-san** : IWA CHAN ILL HABE YOU KNOW THAT THIS BEAUTIVUL MAKEUP ONM Y FACE IS THE MOSTPROFESSIONALIST THING AND IS SO OUT OF LEAGUE OF CLOWN MAKEUP

 

**(3:42) Cutie-San** : there it is

 

As the chat continued to spew out Oikawa’s nonsense and Sugawara’s successful attempts at teasing him, Iwaizumi grinned probably like a lovestruck idiot and not for the first time, wondered how in the world did he end up here. Here being hanging out and chatting with two gorgeous people he had seen at his workplace and who had taken an interest in him.

 

He remembered how after his shift on the day he had decided to indulge in Oikawa’s flirting and flirted back only for both of them to be shut down by Sugawara, they had taken him out to several night markets to “eat and fun” (in Sugawara’s words, not his). 

 

Picking various snacks to buy at the markets was fun and sharing them was even more so. Oikawa would try to make the most of his fried chicken nuggets only for him to turn around to answer Sugawara and turn back to find Iwaizumi with an unapologetic grin and greasy fingers. Or turn to Iwaizumi to tell a joke and turn around to find half his skewer meat gone and an “innocent” Sugawara. 

 

Nevertheless, they all had fun, fishing out coins to spend at games and competing for the best prize they could win. Food was shared, jokes were traded and laughter only made the mood better.

 

Iwaizumi had gone home around midnight that day. He had unlocked the front door to find the apartment dark and quiet, Bokuto’s snores telling him that he had already drifted off into deeper sleep. Iwaizumi was glad that Bokuto didn’t stay up waiting for him seeing that the other had class the next day.

 

It was safe to say that Iwaizumi did not regret giving into their insistence at spending more time with him.

 

*******

 

Two weeks had passed since their first encounter and Iwaizumi had already endured too many pickup lines.

 

“Hey, Hajime-kun,” Sugawara greeted Iwaizumi as soon as he walked into the café. “Do you want to know what this shirt is made of? Boyfriend material,” he said without waiting for Iwaizumi’s response. 

 

Iwaizumi snorted. “That has got to be the worst one this week.”

 

Sugawara grinned at the challenge. “Are you sure? What about the one where I asked you if you were sitting on a pile of sugar because your ass is sweet?”

 

Iwaizumi flushed. “No, I was wrong. The worst one has to be the one about heaven. We’re Japanese, we don’t even believe in heaven. I don’t even know where you got that.”

 

Sugawara barked out a laugh. “I got it from the internet.”

 

Iwaizumi sighed and shook his head. One day, he was going to die from pickup lines.

 

As if on cue, Oikawa popped up from behind Sugawara and wrapped his arms around Sugawara’s shoulders. Sugawara didn’t even blink an eye at the sudden appearance. 

 

“Hey, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa chirped. “Your lips look so lonely, would they like to meet mine?”

 

Yep, Iwaizumi was definitely going to die from pickup lines. 

 

Iwaizumi was going to shove his face away and tell him to shut up, but before he could, a loud groaning destroyed all thoughts of action.

 

“Oh my God, just go on a date already!” Yaku screeched. 

 

*******

 

Iwaizumi guessed that at some part of the last few weeks of his life, he would’ve thought about this a few times… or several… or a lot, but he didn’t exactly think that he would’ve ended up _here_.

 

Here being at an elaborate restaurant with two handsome men and eating dinner under a setting he could describe as “romantic”.

 

“Umm… why do I feel like everybody is staring at us?” Iwaizumi asked Oikawa and Sugawara. 

 

Oikawa laughed nervously. “Ha, ha. What makes you say that?”

 

Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow. “Maybe by the number cameras pointing at us and people gawking at us?”

 

“Ha ha!” Sugawara fake laughed and okay, _now_ , Iwaizumi is definitely suspicious of them. “They’re probably just looking at some of the other famous people around us, y’know?”

 

Iwaizumi squinted at him, then Oikawa, but neither of them said anything and they even stared him back in the eye. Finally, he sighed. If asking them wasn’t going to get him anything, it might’ve been best to just let it go and let them tell him when they want to.

 

“Okay…” Iwaizumi said, “So, what are you guys ordering?”

 

Dinner in the presence of dimmed candles and slow classical music in the background was nothing especially exciting in Iwaizumi’s opinion, but as the shadows grew longer and their laughs grew brighter, Iwaizumi could say with confidence that this evening was making its way up into his top 10 list of favourites. 

 

Iwaizumi and Oikawa were just laughing his guts out over a cheesy joke Sugawara made when a blinding flash stopped them.

 

“Oh shit! I knew we shouldn’t have chosen this restaurant,” Oikawa hissed as more and more flashes exploded in their eyes. 

 

Sugawara repeated his curse and stood up along with Oikawa. 

 

“Wait!” Iwaizumi called in his seat. “What’s going on?”

 

Both Oikawa and Sugawara turned to him with a fixed stare and Iwaizumi tried not to flush under their intense looks. 

 

“Iwaizumi, we need to go,” Sugawara said as he grabbed Iwaizumi’s wrist and pulled him up from his seat. 

 

Immediately, more cameras flashed and the flurries of questions that were just background noise, grew louder until Iwaizumi couldn’t hear what either Oikawa or Sugawara was yelling as they pulled him along and through the crowd.

 

The flashes were getting dimmer as they rushed out of the restaurant but they were still persistent. The shouting had been less intelligible when they were sitting at their table as if they had a safety bubble around them then, but when they surged through the reporters, the words became clearer and Iwaizumi’s head spun as he struggled to push through the crowd and avoid the microphones thrust in his face.

 

“Oikawa-san…”

 

“Sugawara-san…”

 

“Is this a date…?”

 

“Wait!”

 

Finally, they burst through the front door of the restaurant, but before they could take another step towards the parking lot to Oikawa’s car, a woman in a red dress intercepted them and shoved a microphone into Iwaizumi’s face, knocking into his nose. 

 

“Excuse me! Excuse me!” she shouted. 

 

Iwaizumi paused, shocked by her burst of an entrance and he stood frozen in spot even as Oikawa and Sugawara tugged harder.

 

“What is your name? Are you Oikawa-san and Sugawara-san’s new lover? Are you aware of what happened to the last one?”

 

Iwaizumi gaped at her until a forceful tug pulled him out of the way of her interrogative questions and he stumbled past her. 

 

The moments after that were a bit of a daze. At some point, they must’ve let go of his hand because Iwaizumi could only remember trailing after Oikawa and Sugawara while flashes still continued behind them as they half-ran half-strode to the car, traded hushed whispers, and occasionally looked back at him to see if he was still following them. 

 

The drive to his apartment was quiet and Iwaizumi could barely contain his grimace as he tried not to drown in the awkward tension. When they finally arrived outside his home, Sugawara tried to apologize from the passenger seat, but he had only got past a “Sorry…” before he trailed off and Iwaizumi was biting his lip so hard that he could only nod once and turn away to go inside.

 

As soon as Iwaizumi shut his front door, he leaned against the door and let out a loud groan. It was true that the evening that started out okay, but as soon as all those reporters and cameras came in, the entire date had spiralled down the drain.

 

Iwaizumi was tired and exhausted and all he wanted to do was lie down and drown in his blanket. But… there was an unfathomable itch that he needed scratched and for that, he needed to do some research.

 

He dragged himself to his desk chair and quickly opened up his laptop without bothering to turn on the lights. He typed in “ _Sugawara Koushi_ ” with trembling fingers and even though it only took a few milliseconds for the search to show results, they felt longer than it should be.

 

The first link was to a “Sugawara Koushi” wiki page, but Iwaizumi doesn’t see it. The first thing he saw was a picture of Sugawara and Oikawa with a link to a news article titled “Oikawa and Sugawara with their Newest Fling?” And when Iwaizumi’s traitorous fingers clicked on the just posted 1 hour ago picture, he felt dread clogging up his stomach. 

 

‘ _Top models, Oikawa Tooru and Sugawara Koushi, of the famous Shiratorizawa Agency have been seen together with a third man again on what seems to be a romantic dinner date. They left very quickly after they noticed the paparazzi, hurrying away to their car and leaving with the mystery man,’_ the article read and Iwaizumi grimaced as he recalled the tight expressions Oikawa and Sugawara had on their faces. 

 

‘ _Will this be just like Oikawa-san and Sugawara-san’s last conquest?_ ’ the article mused, ‘ _Or could it be more? Will this end like up like their relationship with Sawamura Daichi? Or is there hope yet?_ _Find out more by subscribing to CelebritiesJP.com._ ’

 

Obviously, Iwaizumi decided, there was more to the story than he knew. And if he was being honest, the ominous tone of the remarkably short article made him wonder if the writer behind the words were just exaggerating, liked being dramatic, or had an excess amount of coffee. Or it could be a lack. He wasn’t sure. 

 

What Iwaizumi did know, was that he was only more confused than was he had started with and that the tingling feeling of curiosity at the beginning of his “research” had only grown bigger.

 

First of all, they were _models_? Iwaizumi wasn’t big on celebrities and such, but when Iwaizumi thought about it, he wasn’t sure why he was surprised; they certainly had the looks and attitude suited for the job. Second, if they were such famous people, why would they want to spend time with him? He wasn’t anything special- just a barista of a quiet café tucked away on a small street. What were their intentions towards him?

 

He began to frantically type another name into the search bar. “ _Sawamura Daichi_ ” produced a bunch of links to websites, news, and photos of the man with Oikawa and Sugawara. Iwaizumi swallowed. Sawamura was just a simple man who worked at the same agency as the models, managing a small department under the building that involved storing and cataloguing. 

 

Sawamura’s existence was nothing to the world until one day, he caught the eye of Oikawa, who introduced him to Sugawara and from then on, had a close relationship with them. It seemed like they fell apart in the end as the three of them were no longer sighted together, but no one was sure and no theories or rumours had been confirmed by any of them.

 

Iwaizumi continued to scour the Internet through the night. Words flew past his head in a swirl of rumours, gossip, and scandals until he finally forced his eyes away from his glaring screen four hours later and slumped in his chair. 

 

He was in shock and disbelief, but most of all, troubled. There were too many articles that contained the words: “cheating”, “disgusting”, and “unbelievable”. Oikawa’s many relationships in the past- with the exception of Sawamura and Sugawara- had been monogamous, but they had all ended badly and while Sugawara also monogamously dated, there were considerably fewer people and none of his breakups had ever caused a scene, unlike Oikawa’s.

 

The screen was starting to hurt his blurring eyes. With a lingering sigh, he finally wrenched himself away from his chair. 

 

He was just plain exhausted, but now that he thought about it, he hadn’t heard from Bokuto for the entire evening and night. He quietly shuffled his way to Bokuto’s bedroom, relieved to find his roommate already in a slumber. Still wearing his socks, his feet scuffed along the floor and only taking the time to pull off his shirt, pants, and socks, he fell into bed and tried to find his own peaceful rest.

 

*******

 

Five days. 

 

It had been five days since the disastrous date and encounter with the paparazzi and it had been five days since Sugawara had heard from Iwaizumi. And he knew from asking Oikawa that Iwaizumi hadn’t contacted him either.

 

To say that he was worried was an understatement. He wasn’t _just_ worried. He was also frustrated, scared, and a bit angry.

 

Of course, he wasn’t angry at Iwaizumi; he couldn’t blame Iwaizumi for ignoring them when it was probably what he would’ve done too. Iwaizumi probably just needed time to process what had happened. Although in Sugawara’s honest opinion, five days _did_ seem a bit of a stretch.

 

No, what he was angry at was Semi, his manager. And Oikawa’s manager, Futakuchi. Both of their managers had forbidden them from publicly reaching out to Iwaizumi, such as visiting him at work, for fear of the backlash like last time’s incident. It had hurt both of their careers at that time and Semi was- in his own words- “3000% sure that your career is going to plummet off the cliff like lemmings do”. 

 

It was no doubt very frustrating and the worst part? Semi was right. 

 

“I know this is a little early,” Semi said to Sugawara when he slumped into Semi’s office on the fifth day, “but as a _friend_ , I have to tell you that you’re going to have to let him go eventually if he doesn’t seem interested and if it’s affecting your job.”

 

“And as my manager?” Sugawara wearily.

 

“I’d tell you to drop him already. There’s already too much media that’s staining your image and if you guys clear this up now, it’s maybe not too late.”

 

Sugawara shut his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. It was exactly what he was dreading and what Futakuchi had already told Oikawa, albeit less gently.

 

It wasn’t as if they didn’t try to call Iwaizumi in the first place. They did _try_. Unfortunately, it was already hard to get together with Oikawa when the media was hunting them outside of work and when they _did_ get a chance to call him during their breaks, it would always go straight to voicemail. Iwaizumi deserved more than a voicemail.

 

Semi’s pen stopped its scratching as he noticed the sigh and gave one of his own. 

 

“I know this seems like a repeat of last time,” he said, “but I really hope for you that this time is better.”

 

Sugawara cracked a small smile. “Thanks, Semi.”

 

Satisfied with Sugawara’s response, Semi returned back to his task and the soft sound of his pen across paper continued again. 

 

*******

 

Five days. 

 

It had been five days since the last time Iwaizumi had seen Oikawa and Sugawara. 

 

He tried to tell himself that he wasn’t avoiding them and that the only reason he hadn’t called them back despite their numerous missed calls was that he had been busy at work lately.

 

Unfortunately, he could try to fool his own brain, but he couldn’t fool Bokuto, who had seen too much of Iwaizumi’s drama to be duped. 

 

“Dude,” Bokuto called from his spot on the couch when Iwaizumi came home, “Are you doing that thing where you pick up too many shifts and you come home too tired because you’re avoiding someone or something?”

 

Iwaizumi startled at being caught but he tried to sound nonchalant anyways. “Um… _no_? Why would you say that?” 

 

_Now_ Bokuto looked at him. “Really? It’s been the third night since you came home past 11 o’clock and I know Kiyoko-san well enough that she wouldn’t let you work that long unless you beg her.”

 

Iwaizumi shifted from one foot to another, as he avoided Bokuto’s gaze. “Uh…”

 

Bokuto sighed but turned back to his movie. “Hajime, just be careful, okay?”

 

Iwaizumi let out a small “yeah” before he slinked into his room.

 

He knew that Bokuto was right. He had done this before when he wanted to avoid an ex and he had done it again when he had wanted to avoid a bad friend (now ex-friend).

 

The situation with Oikawa and Sugawara was no different. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have searched their names immediately when he had come home from the date.

 

He groaned as he collapsed onto his bed and plugged his phone into the nearby charger, watching the screen as it lit up and showed the notifications he received during the day. Already, there were eight missed calls. Five from Sugawara and three from Oikawa. Iwaizumi sighed, thumbing the edge of his screen but making no move to call them back. 

 

His phone suddenly buzzed and vibrated as it became alive with an incoming call and Iwaizumi jumped, cursing as he almost fell off his bed in the process. His thumb quickly swiped to answer the call with hope- no, not desperation- that it was Sugawara or Oikawa since he didn’t check the number.

 

“Hello?” an unfamiliar voice asked and Iwaizumi’s shoulders slumped. “Is this Iwaizumi-san?”

 

“Yes?” he answered. “Who am I speaking to?”

 

“Hello, this is Sawamura Daichi and I would like to speak to you about Sugawara and Oikawa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sawamura Daichi... hmmm... that name sounds familiar *strokes non-existent beard* maybe like that guy who was in a previous poly relationship with oikawa and suga? hmmm maybe *continues to stroke beard*


End file.
